AGONISING CHOICES (BEST INTERESTS)

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The rise of screenwriter Jack Thorne continues, with his latest work which is a challenging four part BBC1 miniseries.

'Best Interests' is a drama about a couple divided over the future of medical support for their muscular dystrophy suffering daughter.

It's ia typically sensitive treatment of a difficult subject from a writer who has consistently shown a willingness to confront tricky subjects.

In previous miniseries like Channel 4's 'National Treasure,' 'Kiri,' 'The Virtues' and 'The Accident,' Thorne has tackled the #MeToo scandals, child adoption, PTSD from sexual abuse and corporate manslaughter.

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In order to win over viewers, 'Best Interests' must, like its predecessors, have a really top notch cast on top of their game.

Fortunately, director Michael Keillor has recruited a high calibre of lead actors.

Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen are cast as Nicci and Andrew, the parents of Niamh Moriarty's 13 year old Marnie whose hospital care becomes the focus of a bruising legal battle.

Alison Oliver also plays Marnie's older sister, Katie who gets caught in the legal crossfire.

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At the start of Thorne's miniseries, Nicci and Andrew are on a train heading home after a weekend break.

The holiday has given them brief respite from the demands of running a home, closely monitoring Marnie's condition and keeping an eye on Katie.

However it isn't long before Marnie suffers a seizure as a result of her life limiting condition, with the family facing the grim reality that every time it happens it exacts a heavy toll on her body.

Not long afterwards, Marnie is hospitalised and on ventilation as the seizures impact her consciousness.

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When Noma Dumezweni's doctor Samantha suggests it may be time for the family to consider switching off the 13 year old's life support, it stuns the family.

Samantha faces blistering opposition from Nicci, in particular, who expects Andrew to react similarly.

Thorne constructs a sensitive drama where there are no clear villains or heroes - just family members and medical staff struggling with the enormity of life and death decisions.

Nicci rages at the medical authorities for writing off Marnie's chances of recovering from her coma.

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Samantha stoically bears the brunt of Nicci's anger, insisting she is acting out of concern for Marnie's quality of life.

After initially acquiescing to his wife's challenging of the medical advice and the hospital's subsequent move to force an end to Marnie's care, Andrew becomes concerned about the alliances she is forging in her battle against the medical establishment.

He's also worried about the negative impact the prolonged dispute is having on his younger daughter's quality of life.

Forced to understandably play second fiddle to Marnie for much of her childhood and teenage years, Katie also has her struggles.

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She is dealing with a major landmark moment in her life and as her parents focus on the situation with Marnie, she dabbles in drugs.

Thorne creates an absorbing, thoughtful drama about a family struggling under the weight of a really agonising decision.

He and Keillor take a time shifting approach to the narrative, shuttling between the court battle to determine Marnie's fate, the deterioration of her condition in the weeks leading up to it, the family fallout and occasional glimpses into her past, going back to when she was a baby or a young child.

While it is for the most part very skilfully directed and written, the drama is all the more poignant thanks to Sheen, Oliver, Moriarty and especially Horgan's intelligent, committed performances.

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In her first major screen role, Dubliner Niamh Moriarty, who suffers from cerebral palsy, is wonderfully natural and heartwrenching as Marnie.

Oliver easily eclipses her lead role in the disappointing 'Conversations With Friends' with a subtle and heartfelt performance as an older sister who struggles with Marnie's rapid deterioration and the rupture in her parents' marriage.

Sheen is sympathetic as the affable Andrew who, like Katie, seeks solace in junk food and booze as he tries to comprehend the schism in the family.

Horgan, however, turns in the best drama performance of her career.

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You never doubt the authenticity of her fierce, driven performance as a mother whose absolute love for Marnie and desire to fight for her is understandable but whose rage comes at one hell of a cost.

Keillor extracts strong performances too from the supporting cast.

Noma Dumezweni is excellent as the doctor who becomes the focus of Nicci's ire.

Chizzy Akudolu as her nursing colleague Mercy, Gary Beadle and Melissa Collier as the couple's friends Frank and Alice and Mica Ricketts as their opportunistic daughter Hannah also impress.

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The drama also benefits from the performances of Mat Fraser as Greg a lawyer appointed to act in Marnie's best interests, Lisa McGrillis as a Christian right to life campaigner Brenda, Jack Morris as Andrew's Asperger's suffering brother Tom, Des McAleer as Nicci's dad Eddie and BAFTA winning 'Am I Being Unreasonable?' star Lenny Rush who cameos as another muscular dystrophy sufferer, George.

All of these give the drama a genuine tone.

There is, however, one very staged sequence which recurs in the drama which jars where Nicci, Eddie and Katie hover rather theatrically at the steps of the courthouse to gaze at the solitary, worn down figure of Andrew staring back at them.

This is a slight misstep in an impeccable four part drama that gets everything else so right.

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Viewers in Britain will be reminded of the high profile real life court cases on the fates of 12 year old Archie Battersbee and one year old Charlie Gard.

And as he wades into a tricky ethical debate, it is a testament to Thorne's talent that 'Best Interests' never overplays its hand.

This is a mature, well crafted drama which refuses to lead its audience by the nose but instead asks viewers to make their own minds up.

('Best Interests' was broadcast on BBC1 from June 12-20, 2023)